Quick connectors have long been used to facilitate assembly of mechanical devices without the use of special tooling. This is particularly true in complex automotive systems wherein numerous fluid conduit interconnections are required. In the design of quick connectors used in the industry today, it is sometimes desirable to incorporate an inaccessible retaining mechanism within the fitting. Since the retainer is non-accessible, a tool is needed to open the retainer fingers and thus allow the male fitting to be removed from the female housing. Although tools adapted for release of quick connector type fittings are known, they suffer from a number of infirmities and no design has yet received widespread acceptance. Because quick connect fittings are used on a range of standard tube sizes (typically 1/4", 5/16" and 3/8" outside diameter), prior approaches have been to provide a separate special tool for each tube size. Additionally, design differences between quick connect fittings of the same size from one manufacturer to another have necessitated different tools or the application of a tool in very precise positional relationship with respect to the fitting to effect the de-coupling. This has proven extremely inconvenient and such tools are not widely used.
Secondly, release tools have frequently been difficult to manipulate due to the small size of the fittings and the relatively high pull apart forces involved. Known tools have tended to be fragile and easily broken, even with proper use, thereby further discouraging their acceptance. A related shortcoming of known tools is in their requirement for two hand operation which is particularly difficult in many installations where access is limited.
In the design of quick connectors used in the industry today, it is sometimes desirable to place the connector in such an orientation so as to make the open female end inaccessible. Since it is impossible to create an expanding force on the I.D. of the retainer fingers to release the male tube in such cases, a tool is needed to collapse the retaining fingers inwardly and free the tube and retainer as a single unit. A current approach in use makes use of a forked structure that slides on a grooved portion of the quick connector to create the collapsing motion on the retainer fingers. This grooved track creates weak spots in the housing material and adversely effects the overall connector performance. The design is also exclusive of such connector size and design and requires that the groove track be molded into the female housing. Therefore, it cannot be used with any currently manufactured plastic quick connectors already in the field.